Braedon moved through the silent house, his gaze sweeping over the wreckage. Much of the damage, he noted with a small measure of relief was simply the cruel hand of time, crumbling plaster, faded paint the general decay of abandonment along with plants having begun their invasion of the home. Structurally the old building thankfully seemed sound but even so a bitter knot tightened in his stomach as he registered the blatant theft: the generator was long gone, his room ransacked and utterly wrecked, the computer vanished with the monitor and tv smashed, even his various dry goods and stocked supplies including John's precious supply of instant noodles and other carefully hoarded provisions had all been taken. A small victory, however, surfaced when his fingers brushed against something hidden behind a cupboard in a small hidden hole that was made many years ago: a few USB sticks, its accompanying phone adapter along with a few drives hidden further back.
"Good," he murmured to himself, turning the small items over in his hand. "With Fae's modifications to the phone, John should still be able to watch his anime and still have his music to help cope. It's not the full library his PC held, but it'll suffice for whenever he has a chance to relax to gain new idea's on what to do and hopefully relax a bit."
Just as he was methodically examining his meager finds, Alice burst into the room, a whirlwind of energy.
"We're back! And they really did quite a number on this place." She said with a glint in her eye. "Water's still running at least, not a strong flow but enough that we can keep clean at least but there's no power which means no hot water. Looks like we're in for plenty of cold showers through the pipe in the wall." Her playful tone then hardened, shifting abruptly as she cast a piercing stare at Rebecca. "Oh, but I did manage to clean the girl up nice and proper! I made sure to explain everything to her as well, didn't I little warrior?"
Rebecca, now clad in form-fitting leather armor that strained to contain her ample figure, rather than her previous bulky steel visibly flinched. She offered a high-pitched "Yes!" as she quickly straightened up before casting her gaze down in deference.
"How in the hell did someone like you manage to survive so long?" Alice taunted, her voice dripping with smug challenge, aiming to provoke a reaction. "Did you just fight beasts and then bend over for any human you stumbled upon? Clinging to whoever seemed strong enough at the time to protect you before moving on?"
The barbs seemed to land perfectly as Rebecca's head snapped back up with a fierce glare meeting Alice's own amused gaze. "I tried to avoid human contact as best I could, but whenever I did cross paths with people things went South so I just killed them." she retorted, her voice growing heated with a tremor of indignation running through it. "But I'm like this with him because he seems to be in charge here, can control that maybe monstrous plant creature and I feel if I cross him, he has ways to kill me before I realize it and there's also you, if I'm not on his good side then my end could swiftly come by his hand or yours if he orders it. Besides, if he's the owner of that greenhouse it means I have a far better chance of acquiring the herb this way rather than risking it being destroyed by the owner to keep it from me, causing me to get hurt for no reason." Her tone softened the heat slowly draining from it as pragmatism reasserted itself.
"Uh huh," Alice drawled, her voice practically dripping with bloodlust and mockery. "You do know this guy isn't even that strong right? I mean, the strongest thing he has is those chains of his and that's about it, he can't even use one of his arms." She said, waving her arms dramatically as she devolved into madness once more. "If anything, the one you should be worried about is me! He belongs to me after all and I sure as hell don't mind cutting you down if you try interfering with that or doing anything with him that I haven't approved of." A chill snaked down Rebecca's spine as Alice shifted to a far more deadly tone, a faint shadow crossing over her face but even so she refused to back down.
"The 'he' and 'him' you're talking about is right here ya know." Braedon interjected, his voice cutting through the tense atmosphere like a cold blade as he settled onto the remains of what was once a bed. Alice quickly snapped out of her aggressive trance, rushed over to sit in front of him, her head instinctively tilting to receive a comforting pat. Braedon, though slightly confused by the automatic gesture didn't complain, he had remembered John had done this once before and so simply accepting it as Alice being Alice as he refocused on Rebecca. "We would like to focus on more important things than a catfight. As much as it might boost an ego, now is not the time for it and besides you will possibly have a lot more time to break her in and train her."
He fixed Rebecca with an expectant look now. "First, I want you to tell me everything you know about the Chaos Marauders or whatever they're called. What weapons do they use? Their numbers? Do they keep slaves or prisoners? Tell me everything you know about our most immediate threat."
Rebecca shifted somewhat nervously, clearly uncomfortable by what he had said well matching the glare Alice sent her with one of her own. "Uhm, well, from what I know, the ones here are a branch of the Chaos Marauders main group who are one of the subordinate groups belonging to the Warlord's Dominion. There the ones in charge of the surrounding four-block area. This place is right on the edge of it, touching upon the territory of one of their rivals, the Nightshade Syndicate. No one really knows much about the Syndicate, just that they're also a subordinate group under Warlord's Dominion and that the two groups have a rivalry going on, there numbers are unknown and all I know from the one I met is that there really… strange. They're like assassins and thieves, all dark and mysterious but also kinda cool despite they're strangeness." Rebecca's tone had went from nervous to calm and informative before once again morphing into an excited, almost star-struck babble, earning her confused glances from both Braedon and Alice as she began to rant about the Nightshade Syndicate.
"Okay, let's try to keep things focused," Braedon said, his tone firm but patient as he clapped his hands to get her attention. "I'll try to keep it simpler so you can't change the subject so fast again. Let's start with these groups you mentioned. Who is Warlord's Dominion and are there others we should be aware of?"
"Right," she said, taking a deep breath to rein in her enthusiasm. "Warlord's Dominion is one of the five groups that currently wield the most control. They're in charge of most of this city but their influence reaches further out even to here. They have four subordinate groups: the Chaos Marauders, Shadow Reavers, Crimson Legionnaires and as I mentioned, the Nightshade Syndicate." She paused, thinking. "The other big groups I don't know much about since I kept to the Warlords territory so all I know is that only that they exist. Well except for The Radiant Crusaders who follow that stupid cult because they're bat-shit crazy about 'cleansing' anyone and everything that doesn't conform to their 'Lord of Light' and don't care about territorial lines. They're trying to create what they call a holy land which has already caused clashes against Warlord's Dominion from time to time when there 'messangers' attack people or cause fights. The other big groups seem to keep to themselves and I haven't had any run ins with them."
"Okay, this is progress," Braedon acknowledged, processing the sudden influx of information. "Unfortunately, I think I know that 'light group.' Their leader wouldn't happen to be a woman with a weird gold staff, would it?"
"I'm not sure," Rebecca replied apologetically. "They just refer to her as the Grand Priestess, sorry."
"It's fine; just knowing that is enough for now," Braedon said, waving off her apology. "Next question: you said this area falls under the control of the Chaos Marauders. What are they like, number-wise and in general?"
Rebecca's face hardened. "They're raiders and pillagers, brutal rapists and slaughterers who just feed off destruction and pain. They're the Warlord Dominion's attack dogs. Recently the branch here had a rather big conflict with the Syndicate for overstepping their boundaries but their numbers operating here are still upwards of twenty, at least from what's publicly known as they don't try to keep such things secret." A new urgency entered her voice. "My friend is in there camp and has really had it rough there. That herb would help her lover recover and then they would manage to protect us again well we fled from the camp and tried making something new somewhere else. The camp is about half a day's walk and I was only given until sunset to find what I was looking for around here before needing to return and then either leave their territory, pay another tribute or join them."
She continued, detailing their armaments. "As for weapons, well it's mostly scrap metal shaped into swords or knives along with crude armor. I think maybe a gun or two, but I can't say for sure since those have become a really hot commodity and often kept as a ace in the hole." She lowered her voice conspiratorially. "The ones in this camp, from the whispers I've heard are mostly the castaways or those who can't be trusted for actual jobs and so where dumped here to manage the four-block radius in hopes of antagonizing the Syndicate and being wiped out, another reason they were 'trusted' and I use that word lightly to watch over this part was because there isn't much out here anymore except some beasts and everything else has been looted. The real ones, with positions and the like are kept closer to their main base with actual responsibilities and far better gear, personally I think the Nightshade Syndicate was meant to keep them in line and remove any of the really troublesome elements but they overstepped and started a fight against each other, or at least that's just my guess from the whispers my friend heard and shared with me when I checked on her."
"And how many settlement places have popped up that you know of?" Braedon pressed, leaning forward slightly. "Do the ones here have one?"
"Uhm, I know of three of them; they're pretty spread out and far apart to try and avoid friction. One belongs to the crazies – the Radiant Crusaders and their cult. Then there's the one under the main branch of the Chaos Marauders far that way with Warlord watching over them, they have quite a large settlement. And the last one is a few days away, but I haven't gone there yet. It's apparently a paradise and well-protected, where everyone is looked after and anyone is welcome, ruled by the remnants of the old government who felt like the people should be put first and understand their importance, looking towards making a peaceful and safe zone for future generations, it, it's where we planned to run away to." She finished, painting a stark picture of their altered world.
"And the government hasn't tried anything else?" Alice piped up, clearly incredulous. "I mean, I'm pretty sure they would have done something by now like sending mass amounts of troops out to try and take over or crush any resistance, forced recruitment maybe?" Braedon nodded, his eyes fixed on Rebecca, waiting for her answer.
"They set up a few refugee camps early on," Rebecca explained, her voice tinged with weariness, "but that was within the first few months or so. Most of them fell apart though due to their leaders' greed till there main one was all that was left and absorbed the people from those greed filled camps well executing the greedy leaders for there crimes. If there are still others then I unfortunately haven't heard of them."
Braedon gave a slow nod, the new information forming a grim mosaic in his mind, helping him mentally plan out their next, uncertain steps.